The present document is based on Japanese Priority Document JP 2000-350520, filed in the Japanese Patent Office on Nov. 17, 2000, the entire contents of which being incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to: a disc cartridge provided with a plurality of trays each holding a disc, and a cartridge case assembled so as to enable those trays to be taken in and out, in which an operating unit disposed in the tray is drawn or pressed to thereby take the tray in and out; and a disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus (hereafter, referred to as a disc auto-changer) for recording on and/or reproducing from the disc on the tray by using the disc cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
A disc cartridge shown in FIG. 32 is known as the above-mentioned disc cartridge (also referred to as a disc magazine). The disc cartridge 201 is provided with a plurality of trays 203 each holding a discoid recording medium (hereafter, referred to as a disc) 202; and a cartridge case 204 assembled so as to enable those trays 203 to be taken in and out, in which an operating unit 205 (hereafter, referred to as a hook) disposed in the tray 203 is drawn or pressed to thereby take the tray 203 in and out of the cartridge case 204.
The disc cartridge 201 is used in such a way that the respective trays 203 are taken out of the cartridge case 204, and the respective discs 202 are placed thereon. The disc cartridge 201 is loaded into a disc auto-changer (not shown in FIG. 23) in a condition that the trays 203 are returned back to the case 204.
As shown in FIG. 33, the disc auto-changer 301 is provided with: a cartridge loader 302 for loading the disc cartridge 201; an elevating unit, namely, an elevator 303 arranged opposite to an opening of the cartridge loader 302; and an elevating control mechanism 304 for vertically elevating the elevator 303 along one side of the disc cartridge 201.
After the elevating control mechanism 304 moves the elevator 303 to a position corresponding to a tray 203 on which a desired disc 202 is placed, a loading mechanism 305 disposed in the elevator 303 pulls the tray 203 into the elevator 303. Then, as shown in FIG. 34B, the disc 202 on the tray 203 is placed on a turn table 306, and chucked by a chucking plate 307. After that, a disc recording and/or reproducing unit composed of an optical pickup and the like mounted on the elevator 303 records on and/or reproduces from the disc.
By the way, in the case of the disc cartridge 201 and the disc auto-changer 301, as shown in FIG. 35, left and right sides 204a, 204b of the cartridge case 204 and left and right sides 303a, 303b of the elevator 303 serve as guide planes of the tray 203. The tray 203 is slid while it is guided by those guide planes. This results in the following problems.
(1) If a moment in a direction indicated by an arrow M (a direction in which the tray is inclined to a direction A where it is taken in and out) is applied in pulling the hook 205 of the tray 203, the side 203a of the tray 203 is pushed against the side 204a of the cartridge case 204. Thus, a smooth slide of the tray 203 is impeded. In the worst case, the tray 203 is caught by the side 204a, and it is stopped.
(2) Since a distance L between the guide planes is long, a dimensional tolerance between the guide planes is large. Thus, in order to attain an excellent guide effect, management of components is difficult.
The present invention is proposed in view of the above-mentioned circumstances and is to smoothly slide the tray even if a moment in a tray rotation direction is applied to the hook of the tray, and easily carry out the dimensional management of the parts and the like.
According to the present invention, since a slide guide is disposed at a position aligned in substantial series with a hook of a tray with respect to a direction, in which the tray is taken in and out, in a disc cartridge and an elevator, even if a moment in a tray inclination direction is applied to the hook in drawing the hook or in other cases, an inclination of the tray can be minimized to smoothly slide the tray.
In the disc cartridge according to the present invention, the fitting between the guide rail disposed in either of the tray or the case and the fitting unit disposed in the other tray or case enables the tray to be smoothly taken in and out. In addition, the slide guide is disposed in substantial series with the direction, in which the tray is taken in and out, with respect to the operating unit (hook) of the tray. Thus, even if a moment in the tray inclination direction is applied to the operating unit when the tray is taken in and out, the inclination of the tray can be minimized to smoothly slide the tray. Also, as compared with the conventional case in which the slide of the tray is guided between the left and right sides of the cartridge case, the width of the guide plane can be reduced to thereby make a management of a part size and the like easier. Furthermore, in the disc cartridge according to the present invention, the slide guide is composed of the grooved concave portion on the reverse side of the tray and the ligulate convex portion on the cartridge case side. Thus, the structure of the slide guide is simple. Also, when the tray and the cartridge case are molded from plastic, the concave portion and the convex portion can be formed integrally with them. In addition, the divergently tapered concave portion insertion guide (tapered surface) is disposed at the end of the grooved concave portion. Thus, due to the guide, the convex portion can be inserted into the grooved concave portion easily and surely.
In the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the tray can be smoothly slid by guiding the slide of the tray not only in the cartridge case but also in the elevator. When the tray is pulled out of the disc cartridge, the ligulate convex portion serving as the slide guide formed on the elevator side is introduced into the grooved concave portion formed on the reverse side of the tray. Accordingly the convex portion guides the slide of the tray.
Furthermore, the disc recording and/or reproducing apparatus according to the present invention, the divergently tapered convex portion insertion guide formed at the end of the grooved concave portion formed on the reverse side of the tray enables the ligulate convex portion to be inserted into the grooved concave portion easily and surely. In addition, when the trays are pulled into the elevator by the predetermined amount, the ligulate convex portion serving as the slide guide formed on the elevator side is put in the notch hole made in the substantial center of the grooved concave portion. Accordingly, the tray can be lowered correspondingly to it. Thus, after the disc supported on the tray is placed on the disc table, the tray is lowered, which leads to the non-contact state between the disc and the tray. Then, the disc can be rotated.